(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to digital cameras, and more particularly, to miniature cameras and manufacturing methods thereof used as built-in modules in hand-held consumer electronic devices as e.g. mobile phones or PDAs.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Miniature cameras used in hand-held consumer electronic devices as e.g. mobile phones, PDAs have to be very small and light, the quality of their pictures has to be considerably high and their manufacturing costs very low. Small devices like this are very sensible to internal generated heat causing increased noise of the CMOS sensors used.
It is a challenge for the designers to achieve all these requirements. There are various patents in the field of miniature camera modules.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,476,417 (to Honda et al.) describes a semiconductor device for picking up an image including a lens-mounting unit provided with a lens for picking up an image; a semiconductor chip having a light-receiving element formed on a circuit-forming surface thereof, the light-receiving element converting light from the lens into an image signal; a flexible substrate provided between the lens-mounting unit and the semiconductor chip so as to supply the image signal to an external circuit; and a shading plate blocking light transmitting through the flexible substrate toward the semiconductor chip so as to substantially remove an influence of the light on the light-receiving element.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,424,843 (to Reitmaa et al.) discloses a telecommunication device comprising a speaker and a microphone in order to use the telecommunication device as a telephone. Further it comprises a camera having a certain photographing direction, and a display having a certain displaying direction, in order to use the telecommunication device as an image generating means. The photographing direction is substantially different from the displaying direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,078 (to Wilska et al.) shows a device for personal communication, data collection and data processing, which is a small-sized, portable and hand-held work station comprising a data processing unit, a display, a user interface, a number of peripheral device interfaces, at least one memory unit, a power source, preferably a battery, and an application software. According to the invention the device also comprises a camera unit. The camera unit comprises a camera, preferably a semiconductor camera, and optics connected thereto, which are placed in the housing of the device. Alternatively, the camera unit is fitted on a PCMCIA card, which can be connected to the PCMCIA card slot of the device. An object of the invention is also a PCMCIA card provided with a camera unit.